Fantasy Effect
by OracleSight
Summary: For centuries Humanity had been guided by the Fal'Cies, immensely powerful, knowledgeable and seemingly benevolent entities How the Citadel and the galactic community will react when faced with magic, sentient crystals and other abnormalities that Humanity will bring along? Will Humanity make allies or will they stay alone, forever mistrusted?
1. Prologue

**Oracle:Here is a story I had on my mind for a long time I hope you will like it. Most of the technology you will see is ever an extrapolation of how FF tech would evolve and this does not take place in any of the series' episode, it is its own universe with the basis of the Final Fantasy main series. Which mean summons,Crystals and magic and a bunch of references to the main reason it is in the FFXIII section is that the basis of this crossover is the Fabula Nova Crystallis continuity  
**

 **So before we begin there is one last thing, whoever find the FF XIII reference in this chapter gets a cookie ;-)**

* * *

 **Prologue:**

 **Guided by the crystals' light**

Space, the endless expanse of darkness dimly lit by the stars' light, reaching them has always been mankind's dream. A dream that is now a reality. Among the stars there are now ship with crews made of man, yes no longer just machines made to measure and analyze, but being of flesh and blood staring at the dark vastness that seem to be without end. A sight that feel their mind with both fear of the unknown but also excitation at the idea of new discoveries, this had always been mankind's paradox, without new experiences to be made our existences would be meaning less, and yet we fear the unknown, we fear what we don't understand and yet it attract us. Our curiosity is what always pressure to go ahead and go beyond what we already know and boldly explore the infinite expanse of unknown territory that make up our universe.

Among the ship that explore the space there is one ship that was going to be launched toward a new horizon. The ship's name was the Intrepid, a new Ragnarok Destroyer class spaceship. the graceful design of the ship made it look like some sort of intimidating red dragon soaring through the vacuum of space. The ship was flying toward the Arcturus station it's last stop before going toward the System Gloria, a system in which a mysterious machine was found.

In the docking area of the Arcturus station stood a woman with long red hair and bright green eyes, she had a flawless fair skin and wore a dark blue uniform that contrasted a lot with her skin woman could not take her eyes off the Intrepid, her own spaceship. She had been waiting for a very long time, and finally she had been promoted to Commander which mean she finally could be the commanding officer of her own ship.

She was taken out of her daydream when she heard someone's step next to her. She turned around and her eyes met that of an officer who wore the same uniform as her. The only difference between their uniforms were the ranks that they displayed. The other officer was an admiral, he wore a cap that matched his uniform in color, his skin was fair, his hair were mainly black but showed a few grayish strands.

"So happy of your new charge?" the admiral asked with a smile.

The woman returned the smile "Yes she is beautiful, thank you for giving me this chance...Admira Stevenl Hackett. This really suits you, you really deserved this promotion" the redhead said with a chuckle.

Hackett laughed "Thank you Hannah but really you are the lucky one. You get to escort the deep space exploration ship...I really miss the thrill of the adventure when I was a newly promoted captain on mission to escort an expedition" he said with nostalgia showing through his eyes. he had been through so much with his crew and now he was stuck as an admiral, no way to move as he would, hundreds of regulations and protocols stopped him from taking just any mission he wanted.

Hannah chuckled knowing all too well what the newly promoted Admiral talked about "Yes though I don't know why they chose me since I am nothing special" she said with a chuckle.

The admiral shook his head "You are special, you are the very first L'Cie we had in what? five centuries?" he said "So don't tell me it's nothing. the Fal'Cie resurfaced only a hundred years ago and helped us a lot...we owe them our entire lifestyle all of our technology so far is made of what we achieved with the knowledge imparted on us by the Fal'Cies. It is a rare event for them to take an L'Cie. And they took one the very moment we discovered the relay, you even had a vision and it is this vision that imparted on you the knowledge of this machine being stuck in the ice in what we believed to be a moon of the farthest planet"he added to prove his point "L'Cies are chosen because they have a great destiny ahead of them...I understand if you feel some stress since there is great expectations lying on your shoulders but don't worry you will succeed"

Hannah nodded, she had not slept the entire night after being branded as an L'Cie, she thought about her responsibilities and all that it could meant. She had been just a normal officer until Ifrit the guardian Fal'Cie of Arcturus called for her and finally gave her her brand and powers, she now had magic beyond what any other human could achieve and it did not stop there, no, she also healed faster and was more stronger, faster, and agile than your average way people looked at her also changed, she commanded a lot of respect and it made her sick. It felt almost hypocritical since most of those peoples ever hated her or always spoke behind her back before. At least there was a positive side after this she will be able to spend time with her daughter as she wanted too. And beside she now got a beautiful ship to command.

Hackett was about to say something but Hannah's magi-tool's blue display appeared around the newly promoted captain's arm displaying a message "Well looks like this discussion will be cut short" she said with a chuckle.

Hackett laughed "No problem, run, duty calls" he said with a smile as Hannah walked to her ship. Once on board she began to head for the bridge. on the way she was stopped by a man with short blond hairs and green eyes "Hello madam. I am the staff lieutenant Peter Jenkins your executive officer for this mission, it is an honor madam" he said saluting.

Hannah had to resist the urge of making a face seeing the admiration in her XO's eyes. Everybody saw her as one the heroes of the old legends, she could not even start to understand what this fascination was all about, she was a simple person and was not really interested in celebrity. As they walked toward the bridge Hannah could hear the peoples whispering behind her back.

"Did you see her, it's the captain! The L'cie, I heard that after the death of her husband she raised her daughter all alone and that she survived the Freedom Leaders attack on Arcturus and defended the Fal'Cie" one of the gossiping soldier whispered.

"Wow she must be one really strong woman, guess that the Fal'Cie choose to protect itself at the moment but I'm pretty sure he could not have made a better pick" the other whispered back.

Hannah shifted in discomfort, she did not like any of this one bit, she was a soldier like any of them not some sort of messiah.

when they arrived at the bridge she gave the order to depart. As the Intrepid left the dock it gracefully began to fly toward the edge of the Arcturus system "So ready for warp space, captain?" the pilot asked

Hannah nodded "Yes do, the sooner we get to the Gloria System the sooner we can begin the mission" she said.

The pilot nodded and started to type something on his console and intermediately the entire ship lit up with an energy that shot forward and created a massive portal in front of it. The warp engine was wonder created by the magitechnology derived from the Fal'Cies' knowledge. It allowed to create portal big enough to fit an entire ship and made most travel near instantaneous. tough it was limited in term of reach indeed the engine could not reach something farther than fifty light years and needed at least ten minutes before creating another portal.

The Ship approached the mysterious machine, it was a rather strange construction unlike anything the Mankind had seen so far. The gigantic machine was made of two parts: one that made up most of the device which was two long curved metal arms surrounding the second part which was a set of revolving, gyroscopic rings. Those rings surrounded a core made of element zero. a mysterious material able to produce dark energy when exposed to electrical tensions. The origin of the massive fifteen kilometer long device was unknown. in comparison their seven hundred and fifty five meter starship seemed really small.

"So it is supposed to be the same kind of technology as what was found in Mars' ruins?" mused Hannah

Someone stepped in the bridge "No it is not, our data says that while it use eezo the level of engineering and design does not correspond" Hannah turned around to be faced with a tall man with blue eyes and grayish hairs. The man had a designer stubble, the skin of his face was a bit wrinkled and he had large dark circles under his eyes. he wore a very formal attire made of a navy blue suit and pants, with a white shirt crimson tie.

Hannah recognized the man from the debriefing before she left the Arcturus "Oh you are the professor O'Donnell, right?" she asked.

The man nodded "Yes I am. And this" he said pointing at the machine on the screen "Was known ,by the ones who left the ruins on mars, as a mass relay. It is obviously not active, for now, but this thing is supposed to be able to send ships across the galaxy" O'Donnell explained.

The entire crew contemplated the words of the professor. A machine able to send ships across the galaxy was something to behold, but who built it if it was there before the ones who made the martian ruins. Suddenly the crew was pulled out of it's day dreaming by an alarm.

"What's happening?!" Hannah shouted as the alarm kept roaring over her voice.

"The relay activated all of a sudden!" The pilot shouted pointing at the screen where everyone could see that the ring had started spinning and the core of the mass relay now shined brightly.

Hannah clearly remembered her vision and thought about it. She remembered the relay activating and the Intrepid coming through, and also fight "Pilot, get us as close as possible to the relay, and be ready to fight" she ordered.

The pilot stared at her as if she had lost her mind and she only said "Trust me, the Fal'Cie's vision was vague but I know what to do..." she also mentally added _"at least I think so"_

The Fal'Cies had never betrayed them so the pilot no longer had any doubt and brought the ship as close as possible. Suddenly the core of the mas relay sparked connecting with the ship and suddenly flung the ship through the emptiness of space. When the ship stopped moving the pilot looked at the radar.

"Captain we are in a different system, three planets...the second planet show signs of being inhabited! there are four ships in orbits...they are in a battle!" the pilot said now really shocked.

Hannah nodded "Get us as close to the ships as possible, but stay out of their range of detection" she replied.

The pilot did as he was ordered bringing the ship as close as possible while keeping enough distance for the ship to not be detectable, by their standard at least.

* * *

Meanwhile the four ships were shooting at each other, sending disruptor torpedoes and mass accelerator shots at each other. but the if the first two of the starships were fairing rather well the other was not so lucky. The kinetic barriers of one would soon fall and the damages were getting worse and worse under the fire of the two opponents it was facing, the other had already lost its mass accelerator and would soon run out of torpedoes. These ships were turian cruisers that had been part of the small group supposed to protect the new colony of the Hierarchy in the Attican Traverse till the true patrol arrived. But alas the pirates took the small group ,made of two cruiser and a frigate, by surprise destroying the frigate and causing heavy damages to the cruisers. The situation was really bad and did not seem to be getting better.

The captain Velius Rekan in charge of the small patrol had never expected to be faced with this kind of situation. The ship around him rocked as it got shot, spark flew in every direction and a console blew up near him. They kept receiving message from the colony that was under attack by the ground troops deployed by the pirates. It was definitely the worst day of his life.

"If this keeps up we're going to get killed...we truly need a miracle" Velius thought grimly.

Then the pilot spoke up as if to grant him his wish "Captain! I got a third ship on the LADAR! It seem to be quiet away...the signature is of unknown origin. It is bigger than a cruiser but it's not a dreadnought" he said.

Velius was despaired so he decided to try something "Contact them! send a message! We need help!" he shouted, praying to the spirits that it was not another pirate ship.

* * *

The pilot of the Intrepid's console let out an audible beep sound "Captain I got a message coming from one of the damaged starships...but I can't make sense of it" he said.

"They are most likely asking for help, this seem to be the most logic conclusion..." The professor O'Donnell said uneasily.

The executive officer Jenkins seemed to be confused and looked at the battle displayed on the holographic screen with anxiety "What should we do captain?" he asked.

Hannah seemed to be pondering her options, her visions showed the Intrepid defending the losing ships and fights on the planet, but it did not go farther. For once in her life she doubted the Fal'Cie, there was too many unknowns in the equation for her tastes, but she did not had much choice right now "We will fight, prepare to attack the aggressors, charge the energy beam and fire as soon as we are close enough" she said pointing to the pirate ships on the screen.

The pilot nodded and the ship moved toward the pirates' position. As soon as the pirates saw that the Intrepid was quickly advancing toward them one of the ship reoriented itself so it could aim his weapons at the Intrepid.

"Captain, it seems that not only they saw us but they are about to shoot again at the most damaged ship!" one of the operators informed Hannah as pilot began to furiously type something on his console "Not if I have a say in it!" he said

* * *

The crew of the Turian ship had seen its morale raise when the Intrepid moved forward, but it was cut short when they noticed the pirates were about to shoot one last mass accelerated slug that would destroy them.

"Quick! move out of the way!" Velius barked at the pilot.

"Impossible! we sustained too much damages! we won't be able to get out of the way in time" the turian pilot shouted back as the pirate ship fired its mass accelerator.

Velius closed his eyes,his mandibles clamped tightly against his face, his head lowered in defeat when he saw the deadly accelerated slug blazing across the a vacuum of space toward its target that no way to escape it. Velius waited for the burning agonizing pain of the explosion and the scream of mixed agony and fear, but it did not come. He opened his eyes to see what looked like a massive blue shimmering and swirling vortex of blue energy in front of the ship "By the spirits! what is this?!" he thought as his mouth was there open.

He looked at the other crew members and their were as flabbergasted as he was, the silence stayed for a few seconds only to be broken by the pilot "The enemy ship was hit...by it's own shot" she said in disbelief, her mouth stayed open not knowing what to say.

"What happened? how could they hit themselves?" Velius questioned as he stared at the swirling vortex of energy that disappeared as suddenly as it appeared.

The pilot shook her head "I have no idea, but I think it is that strange ship's doing" she said pointing at the intrepid that had just dodged a shot from the second pirate ship and retaliated with a blue beam of energy that burned through the pirate ship' hull destroying it in a single go as it had already been weakened by its fight. The other ship fled into using FTL as it was obviously not able to fight the ship that had somehow opened vortexes that sent its projectile right back at him.

* * *

Hannah smiled at their victory "Well that was a rather unconventional use of a portal generator, but still quite effective. So what's your name soldier?" she said with a chuckle.

The pilot laughed "Samuel, Samuel Moreau! Always ready to save an alien's ass even if it's green and slimy, and risk my skin for the Fal'Cie's chosen one's quest of course" he joked making the entire deck laugh. he said turning his chair around to face the captain. he was an average heighted man with blue gray eyes and short brown hairs.

Hannah shook her head with a smile across her feature "Well guess we should talk with our new friends...but how?" she said.

The professor made a coughing sound to attract the attention "I may have an idea" he said.

Hannah looked at him with curiosity "What is your idea?" she asked.

The professor took a deep breath "Their technology seem to be similar to that of the Protheans, those who have built the ruins. maybe they can understand their written language, so if you allow me I could send a message in prothean" he said.

Hannah nodded seeing no other options and the professor O'Donnell began to type the message on his magi-tool

* * *

The pilot looked at the message the professor had sent in confusion "We received a written message...the translator identified the language, it's prothean" she said with a lot of confusion.

Captain Velius was even more confused "What does it says?" he asked, If this ship was prothean it could explain a lot of thing since the prothean technology was the most advanced in the entire galaxy. If they survived, it would only make sens that their technology had evolved.

"Send them a message in the same language. Describe the entire situation" he ordered, the pilot nodded and furiously tipped on her keyboard.

She received a response not long after "I received a message it seems they will send troops planet side to take down the remnants of the pirates...and they asked for the translation software we use...they use another language, they are not protheans they another race altogether!" she said now really confused.

Velius was really shocked by the news and took a moment to think about it "Send them the software and send a message to our troops on the planet, they need to know they will receive reinforcements" he ordered her.

* * *

Meanwhile Hannah was already putting on her armor and getting ready to go to the planet with a group of twenty alliance marines "You are really sure you want to come? After you are getting in danger and you got a daughter waiting for you back home" her executive officer asked. Hannah nodded "Yes, beside it is the occasion to test the power given by the Fal'Cie and see if the legends are true...beside even if they aren't...moms are tough" she said with a confident smirk.

The man chuckled "If you say so" he replied with an amused chuckle, as his magi-tool beeped "Oh a message from the professor, he said the translation software should be ready soon" he added.

"Good hope it will be ready by the time we meet our new friends" Hannah said with a chuckle "Do you imagine the what it would be like if we shoot each other because we can't understand what we say to one another!" she said with an audible laugh.

The other seemed nervous and only chuckled slightly in a forced way making Hannah stop and blush in embarrassment "Sorry it wasn't funny" she said making everybody laugh this time.

The shuttle flew toward the planet in complete silence. It landed not too far from the that was still under attack from the pirates who were totally unaware that their ship had left without them.

The shuttle landed not far from the colony just behind the pirates' positions but far enough to not be colony was in a terrible state, the small city had already sustained heavy damage, buildings were falling apart there were corpses in the

"So what's the plan Captain?"Jenkins asked.

Hannah chuckled "The plan? we burn them to ashes! don't let any of them escape!" she shout as her right hand lit up with fire **"FIRAGA!"** a basketball sized fire ball flew from her hand, like a burning meteor sailing across the sky.

It landed right into a large group of pirates that was trying to break through the turian colonists' lines of defense. This resulted into a massive burning explosion, the resulting column of flame left both the turians and batarians speechless they had never seen anything like that, no grenade or bomb the size of the fireball they had seen had such a spectacular impact. when the dust and smoke settled they saw the ground that had been burned by the explosion and the charred remains of the pirates who were carbonized in their armors.

The marines nodded charging up their own spell, less powerful but not less deadly for the unfortunate target that would get hit. thunder,fire,ice,wind, even pure purple energy it was a show of light and explosion that left the turians confused and the batarians terrified. the pirates scattered in the colony running for their life as the marines were already after the scattered pirates to finish the work.

Hannah on other hand felt a sudden headache as her brand glowed brightly through her armor. a red flame like mark on her hand, and suddenly she could hear something, a voice it sounded juvenile "Help me!" she ran into a nearby building no longer controlling her body

the smell burnt flesh that rose in the air was sickening for Hannah. But she swallowed her bile when she looked around to find what she was looking for, inside the building was a batarian dragging what a appeared to be a child from another species. she suddenly felt another headache as vision flashed through her mind, a female of the same species as the child getting shot to death by the being that drag the child "his mother?" she another vision the child that come out of the cupboard he was hiding upon seeing the female getting shot, the dying female holding her child one last time. her breath get slower and more difficult as she whisper some last words to the crying infant. her eyes began to close, the last thing she saw was her child getting ripped out of her embrace by the slaver.

The vision was made of short moments, each moment was like a violent flash, tidal waves of raw emotions: sadness,pain,despair. Why was the Fal'Cie sending those visions to her. She did not know, but she felt anger burning inside of her and she felt it turning into burning hatred.

"He has to pay..." she said in a low menacing hiss. Her hand clenched hard, and fire coated it **"Haste"** she said in a low angry whisper, a magenta aura enveloped her and flashed brightly as she disappeared in a burst of speed. Her punch collided with the slaver's jaw with a sickening cracking noise, making the batarian release the child's hand and let go of his weapon.

The slaver was scared out of his mind holding his broken jaw and singed face. he looked at the soldier, she looked like an asari, but her eyes looked like two blazing flame, he tried crawl away from the demon in front of him. but he suddenly felt something on his leg.

Hannah had stepped on the leg of the downed pirate, she looked at the child, he had been shot in the leg, her hatred rose again as she took her gun and pointed it at the slaver's head.

the terrorized slaver rose his hand trying to ask for mercy if Hannah's guess was right "Mercy...you dare to ask for mercy!" she shouted angrily as she crushed the batarian's ankle with her foot "Did you had any mercy for this kid and his mother? no you had none, so don't expect any from me" she said darkly in a voice that was as cold as ice. she shot the batarian.

Hannah sighed in relief as she felt her rush of hatred going away. the kid on other hand was terrified, asking himself who was this creature...was she there to save him...or was she just another slaver like the one who killed his mother. the strange creature took of her helmet.

the being walked to him, she looked like a really pale asari but has some strange red fur on top of her head instead of tentacle like the blue asexual seemingly all female species. he brought her hand to his wounded leg and said something that sounded like **"Cura"** a blueish white glow extended from her hand and coated his wound that sealed, the flesh mended itself incredibly fast and the feeling of warmth produced by the strange aura was almost smiled at him,she took in the child's features. rust colored plates forest green marking etched on his face and two beautiful amber colored eyes.

what looked like a blue omnitool suddenly appeared around Hannah's hand and an audible beep sound was heard Hannah checked her magi-tool and noticed that her translation software had been upgraded with the Turians' language.

She smiled again at the turian boy "Don't worry, I am not here to hurt you" she told him "It is not safe for you around here. You should follow me" she extended her hand to him and he took her hand.

"My name is Hannah, what's yours?" the captain she asked.

The turian boy splayed his mandibles, seemingly smiling back at least that's what she understood from the boy's facial expression "my name is Latis...Latis Falmius" he said as they went out of the building

 **End of the Prologue**

* * *

 _ **-Codex-**_

 **-magic:** a special power that sentient beings may develop while exposed to the radiations of the crystals that power most of the humans technology. it can alter matter, space and time.

 **-Fal'Cie:** the name given to the strange sentient crystals that seem to guide and protect humanity. They have been created by a being called Mwynn and it is pretty much the only thing humans know about them.

 **-L'Cie:** name given to a human chosen by a Fal'Cie for a specific purpose they can use very advanced magic to fulfill their purpose called focus which is alway described by obscure visions upon the branding by the Fal'Cie that place its mark on his chosen one.

 **-Freedom Figthers:** terrorist organization created by paranoid humans who thought that Fal'Cies tried to manipulate Humanity and make humans their slaves. They tried to destroy Ifrit the Fal'Cie of station Arcturus.

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 **OracleSight: hoped you liked it ;)don't forget to post a review so I know what you think of this fic and what you would liked in this chapter.**


	2. Chapter 1

**Oracle:I am happy that the fic had such a good welcome so here is the second chapter. And I also am sorry for the time it took to write this but I am quiet busy with college.  
**

* * *

 **Chapter 1:**

 **The choice of a mother  
**

Latis was in pain, his leg was healed but still hurt him badly. he no longer bled but he could not stand properly, it was very difficult to walk in this situation and he nearly fell twice. The third one he thought his face would meet the ground but Hannah caught him in time "It seem you can't really walk yet kiddo. You can take support on me, you know, I won't let you fall" she said with a smile. Latis was still hesitant, but he had already decided to trust this alien, Hannah...as he looked at her only more questions appeared in his mind. Who is she? Why was she so kind with him? From where did she come from? What is she? And what did she All those questions kept confusing him when he thought about them. He was too tired to think, he slowly began to fall asleep on the captain's back.

Hannah walked out of the building, the sleeping turian boy holding her firmly as to not fall off her back, but she could hear a few whimper-like noise coming from the sleeping boy. her executive officer walked to her followed by an armored turian with a long fringe that identified him as male "Ah there you are captain! I could not find you! where were you?" he said but was cut by a sharp glare from his captain.

"Hush! the kid's sleeping" Hannah said moving around to show the sleeping turian on her back.

The turian officer was surprised "La-Latis? But where's Velnea?" he asked sounding worried.

Hannah looked at the turian officer, he was really tall, six feet and eight also looked more bulky than most of his fellow turians because of his armor. His plates were a very dark shade of grey almost black, his eyes were a vibrant shade of green and the markings on his face were cyan and made of three vertical lines, one across each eye and one going down his chin. His armor was forest green with dark blue lines.

Hannah thought about it and guessed Velnea was the name of Latis' mother "If Velnea is the name of his mother, well I am sorry to tell you she is dead...who are you?"she replied.

The turian lowered his head in what appeared to be sadness before answering "Commander Arna Belliaran, glad to meet you even through those circumstances...without you, we would've been in a terrible situation. Though I'm sorry because this is not the kind of things we'd like a new species to see as their first sight of the galactic community. But still, in the name of the colony I'd like to thank you, the pirates gave up after discovering that their last ship abandoned them." he answered, looking nervous especially after witnessing the amount of destruction that a human could unleash with only one strike.

Hannah nodded "Yes, I suppose...but how did those pirates manage to do so much damage? " she asked.

Arna rubbed the back of his neck nervously "Well, how to explain, we are far off the main territory of the Hierarchy and well we had not expected to be attacked this soon, nor did we expect the slavers to be bold enough to attack a colony that while close to the traverse is still in the council's space" he answered his head lowered in shame, he felt responsible for had happened.

Hannah tilted her head in confusion "What are the Traverse,the Council and the Hierarchy?" she asked.

Arna chuckled "I nearly forgot you were newcomers." he straightened his posture " The Traverse is one of the three main zone that make up the galaxy, there's The Council Space which is ruled by the Citatdel Council, a council made of the representative of the three major government of the galaxy, then there is on the opposite side of the galaxy the Terminus systems which reject the council authority and conventions, there are colonies there...but also a lot of slavers,pirates, and criminals of every kind, It is a very dangerous zone. The Turian Hierarchy is one of the three government that make up the council, we are the main military power of the council, and are in charge of the major peace-keeping operations...though we could use some help seeing how thin our fleets are spread with the size of the space to patrol." he explained then he gave her a nervous look "But I also have questions...what are these powers you have? I've seen your men throw fire ball, lightning bolt, create barrier and even heal our soldiers with no visible medicine or equipment"

Hannah sighed, she knew the question of their magic would eventually come "Well our technology use special crystals that when receiving an electrical current release a massive amount of energy in the form of heat, but also radiations that most of the time cause us humans to develop these kind of powers. And don't ask me to explain how they work because we don't know" she explained.

Arna nodded "So it is kind of like the biotics for the asari in a way, before you ask biotics allow to control the gravity through production and control of dark energy" he said a bit unnerved as he spoke of the biotics.

The redhead nodded but she noticed how Arna's mandibles fluttered in a way that she thought was a show of anxiety "Is there a problem?" she asked extremely confused.

Arna shook his head "No there's no problem" he said trying to calm down "Anyway, I think you should send a report to your superiors to explain them the situation and so they can send an ambassador to the citadel"

Hannah shook her head "No need they already know, they will send an ambassador who was ready even before the beginning of the mission" she replied.

Arna was both shocked and confused, how could they have an ambassador ready, does that mean they had an ambassador ready at all times in case of first contact. No that was unlikely since Hannah mentioned the beginning of the mission, and she did not seem to be surprised. The ship sent from what he was told was not an exploration vessel, it was ready for battle as if these Humans already knew they were running into a fight "You already knew that you would find us here...don't you?" he asked

the human captain nodded which shocked the turian even more "I won't hide anything, I was chosen by Ifrit the Fal'Cie of station Arcturus. Before you ask the Fal'Cies are a different species, they are not human and gave me the vision of what would happen here, the vision was rather vague. All I've seen was my ship coming through the relay and two ships that were not of human origin and were shooting at each other" she answered.

The turian was now beyond shocked he was completely stunned by the implications, the humans could have relations with a species that seemed to be spying on them "This sounded like a warning, why did you came anyway? This seemed like a recipient for disaster" Arna said appalled by the blatant show of carelessness.

Hanna shook her head and removed her gauntlet showing the mark on the back of her hand, it was the head of some kind of wolf like beast surrounded by fire "No,I am what is called an L'Cie, I was chosen by a Fal'Cie for a purpose, the vision was a way to tell me what the Fal'Cie expected of me. "

Arna blinked "But what is the relation between the humans and the Fal'Cies?" he asked.

Hannah sighed trying to find the right words to explain this relation to someone who had no idea of how human society worked and viewed the Fal'Cie "They are...our guides...they push us in the right direction and then the rest is up to us. The Fal'Cies showed us everything, from the basis of the technology we use to how to use our powers" she said.

Hannah's XO who had stayed silent the whole time was not sure if this was a good idea to tell the Turians about the Fal'Cie so soon, he showed clear sign of anxiety but Hannah gave him a nod that made him.

Arna was even more confused, he could not understand the Fal'Cies motives to act this way, there had to be some kind of hidden agenda that they keep from their charge. The humans seemed naive to trust those beings without truly understanding the relation established between their kinds, tough he understood that there was a lot of gain from this relation and that could be why they would not question it "I still think it is difficult to understand why you seem to so blindly trust these Fal'Cies' guidance" he said.

Hannah shrugged "We never questioned them because in the end we are making our own decisions they just give us the initial impulse, they gave us the basis of our technology and we created everything we have now. they never tried to control us so far" she answered.

Arna did not seemed convinced these Fal'Cies were still suspicious "Very well, if you think you can really trust them...though I still think you should be a bit more carefull with who you are trusting" he said.

Hannah nodded acknowledging the turian's advice, though she like most human did not doubt the Fal'Cie who were responsible for their current prosperity and comfortable way of life "Anyway, I suppose I should leave Latis to you?" she asked.

Arna nodded with a sad look upon his face "Yeah...though...I guess he will have to leave this colony an be transfered to an orphanage..." he answered.

Hannah's eyes widened "He has no family left?" she asked now very surprised.

Arna shook his head "He has family...but they won't want anything to do with him. Velnea's clan, the Altenia clan disowned her...so her son is not considered one of them. They did not approve of her marrying a barefaced with no clan history to speak of...for a clan with such prestige that has served the Hierarchy since its birth, it was just unacceptable. In the most prestigious clans of the Hierarchy the individuals have for first duty to serve not only the Hierarchy's interest but also their clan's...Velnea rebelled against her father, who wanted to marry her with someone close to the Primarch...guess she was not a really good turian,very individualist...which was quiet fascinating in fact" he explained his mandibles fluttering when he talked about the now deceased Velnea.

Hannah did not understood the word barefaced and only guessed it meant a turian with no face marking but had no real idea of the actual social stigma behind the status, but one thing made her angry. They were putting the blame of the now dead mother's decisions on the kid's back, but the thing that angered her most was that there was little she could do. "I suppose you can't take the kid with you?" she asked.

Arna shook his head "No that I don't want, but I am always on the move, I am here today, but in a month I might have to move for another base or even a ship...not an ideal situation to raise a kid, especially not alone" he answered.

Hannah had to agree, she knew this fact all to well since she was raising her daughter on her own. She sighed "Well guess it can't be helped..." the human captain muttered being a bit bitter about it.

Her magi-tool and that of her XO beeped "hm...It looks like we will have to go back to the ship, we have to escort the ambassador to the Citadel" he said reading the message he received.

Arna decided to size the occasion to ask a favor to Hannah "If you excuse me, I'd like to ask if you could take Latis with you. The Citadel is better place for him to not be stigmatized for being a disowned child, a turian colony or Palaven would be the worst place for him to live" he said.

Hannah understood "I'll do it, and I just hope the trip to the Citadel won't be too long because I don't even know if he can eat the same food as us" she said.

"Thank you Captain Shepard, and don't worry to get to the right relay it will take only an hour or so and only a few minutes to get to the Citadel" the turian officer answered.

Hannah nodded before following he executive officer to the shuttle that got her back to the Intrepid. On the way the other soldiers stared at Hannah or more precisely at the sleeping alien infant she carried into the shuttle and who slowly began to wake up. He yawned and looked around, he did not expect to be in a shuttle full of these aliens.

"Hello there little one" Hannah said with a chuckle.

"Ha-Hannah...who are they, and where am I?" Latis asked as he was confused and also uncomfortable being with aliens he did not knew.

"Don't worry little one, we are just going to bring you to the Citadel. It seem that it is what's best for you" Hannah told him with a warm smile trying to keep the boy as calm as possible.

Latis nodded as he couldn't possibly have a normal life on a backwater colony that already got devastated by pirates, especially with no one to take him in after his mother died. he curled into a fetal position in the seat next to Hannah. He remembered exactly how everything happened, he would never be able to forget. A low whiny sound escaped him as he try to contain what he felt.

Hannah apatted his shoulder in a comforting way, she could not offer much to the kid, she did not knew how it felt to lose someone like this. Yes she had lost her husband to the madmen of the Freedom Fighters, but she was not there when he was killed.

To her surprise the kid hugged her, she hugged back since she did not knew what else to do. Latis had went through a lot and well she would do anything she could to help him. After all a child should not be suffering like that.

They eventually arrived on board of the Intrepid that would escort the Ambassador's ship. Hannah received a message on her magit-tool that told her to come to the infirmary and to do so alone. she rose an eyebrow but did as she was told, she trusted the doctor since she was a childhood friend, and Latis needed to get checked tough she did not knew if the doctor could possibly understand the kid's anatomy and metabolism.

Once at the infirmary, she was greeted with a sight she had not expected. a small girl, with similar red hairs and green eyes "Jane...what are you doing here?" then she looked at the sheepish smile on the doctor's face. The fair skinned woman had short black hairs and blue eyes and wore a white labcoat with a badge that read "Dr Karin Chakwas"

"No let me guess...you used your invisibility spell to sneak on board of the ship and Karin who has a soft spot for you covered you by hiding you here. Am I wrong?" Hannah said as the little girl that looked like a smaller her chuckled with a goofy smile.

"Yup that's it!" she said happily.

Hannah looked at her with a sickly sweet smile that made Jane lose hers knowing what it mean "I'm grounded for a week?" Hannah shook her head "Two weeks?" she shook her head again "a month?" Jane asked worriedly, it was no again "Two months?!" she nearly shouted as her mother nodded.

Jane sighed knowing this would eventually happen,after all she always get caught. then she noticed Latis as did Chakwas when the small turian finally moved from behind Hannah. _"Wow so he is one of those aliens..."_ Jane thought

The little scene between the mother and daughter got a laugh out of Latis who at first had tried to contain it, Jane glared at him "There's nothing funny!"

Latis did not seem to think so and kept laughing "Of course it's funny! you were just silly if you thought you would not get punished!" he said.

Jane looked infuriated "That's it you are going to get it!I will give you a reason to laugh!" she threw herself at him and began to tickle the turian child, after some prodding she found a ticklish spot on his neck.

Hannah and Chackwas could not help but laugh at the kids antics, though Hannah was happy that Latis made a friend, and Jane too. Since Hannah Shepard was always on the move and raised Jane as a spacer as some would call her, the little girl had next to no friends her age.

"Well I let them to your good cares Karin, but don't spoil Jane, though her punishment will be lighter than what I said she is still punished" Hannah told the doctor as she walked out and went to the bridge.

Once there she sat in her sit "Captain we received the coordinates of the citadel" Hannah nodded "Then let's go we have lost enough time as it is" the pilot nodded as the ship began to move toward the relay.

"So captain, you haven't been too hard on your daughter I hope" the pilot asked with a snicker

Hannah sighed "None of your concern mister Moreau" she replied.

"Oh come on captain you should be used to it, I mean I got a son and God knows Jeff do a lot of stupid things! That's just how kids learn" he replied still snickering at his captain's annoyance.

Hannah shook her head and was about to say something when the whole ship shook violently after hitting the relay "Shit! what happened?!" she shouted.

"Sorry captain it seem that longer jumps cause this kind of perturbations" the pilot told her "We will have re-calibrate the inertia dampeners to avoid further discomfort when we do the next jumps"

Hannah nodded and braced herself for the next jump that was even longer. The ship rocked so much after that jump that she wanted to throw up, she really felt sick from the way the ship shook "Oh you better have those dampeners re-calibrated by the time we leave" she told the pilot as she looked at the front window of the ship seeing that they were entering the Serpent Nebula escorting the ambassador's ship. When Hannah had her first sight of the citadel, she was shocked. the space station was truly massive.

It was made of five long arms connected by ring which had a tower at its center, she barely registered what her pilot was saying as he spoke with an operator of the hoped that everything would be alright, but the way Arna doubted the guidance of the Fal'Cies made her nervous. What if the other aliens were just as mistrustful of Humanity's guides. She did not knew much about what could possibly happen, and only time would tell.

* * *

Meanwhile on the station, more precisely at the tower in the council's chamber the pressure was unbearable. Tevos was the most nervous as she had not expected any of this, it was the first time in the citadel's history that a first contact of this kind happened. Sparatus had quickly told her what he knew about the new had power of unknown origin that the vids from the colonists showed as being able to produce lightning bolts,fire balls, and cryogenic blasts. Some even reported that they also had curative abilities. But most of all their technology was really impressive, the way they created portals to redirect the attack of the batarians was most unexpected thing she had seen. They clearly had a new kind of technology which was what interested the dalatrass Naesaw ,who was the current salarian councilor, the fact that they had much to learn from this new species was something they all agreed on.

Tevos did not want to rush their encounter with the human ambassador, but she did not had the choice. Or the batarian did not leave her any choice, those goddess damned slavers had given the Humans the worst first sight of the galaxy she could imagine. She could not wait and let this news spread among humans who would start to mistrust the wider galaxy and possibly close their borders, no she had to earn their trust and integrate them. Humanity becoming an isolationist or worse an hostile nation would be the worst scenario possible, especially with what they could do. They already had problems dealing with the Terminus System,and they certainly could not afford losing a chance like this one, especially when they were already prepared for an hostile first contact since they sent a military ship.

The turian councillor was more preoccupied by what the arrival of Humanity could mean, their technology would shake to its foundation the strategy of in space battles. Because with that kind of technology fire power no longer meant everything. The ability to redirect mass accelerator shots like this could prove very dangerous in the wrong hands. He asked himself if the Turian Hierarchy could possibly handle the amount chaos that this new type of technology's arrival would generate. They were the peace-keepers of the council space and as such they had to ensure that it was secured. He did not want to think of how much damage could be done if this portal technology could be used to transport ships. Starships that would appear and disappear at will, this would make the pirates even bolder if they ever got their hands on it, they would start to raid even in the most inner colonies of the council space.

The three councilors agreed on the fact that this new technology could tip the balance of the galaxy, and that they had to keep the humans under control, because they already were extremely advanced since they did not use any prothean technology to get to this level of technology. From the information they received from Arna Belliaran, the knowledge they used to create this technology came from those mysterious Fal'Cies. A species that already knew of the Citadel's existence and made sure the humans were prepared for the first contact, what could possibly be their interest in this? They did not seem to have even tried to make humans wary of the Citadel to keep them under control, nor did they seem to be even trying to control them. Were they really as benevolent as they seemed? No there had to be something else.

In the meantime Hannah and The ambassador Anita Goyle were on their way toward the citadel tower, escorted by human marines and some C-sec officers. When they walked in the Council's chamber they were shocked by the sheer volume. To Hannah it looked like a ridiculous waste of space, and to Anita Goyle it looked as if they had tried to impress her. The chamber had a small garden lined with trees and fountains with a path that led to a stage in front of the council at the very end of the chamber. while peoples of other species most likely ambassadors from the member species were looking at them from the sides of the chamber.

Hannah felt uneasy, she had not expected to be stared at like this, she could feel the curious stares of all the onlookers,not just the ambassadors and councillors but also the ones in the galleries of the upper level where the public and what seemed to be journalists were. Hannah had always felt uncomfortable in front of the cameras.

Tevos, the Asari Councilor was the first to speak "Welcome to the Citadel, I am the matriarch Tevos, the councillor who represent the Asari Republic, I welcome you on behalf of this council." she then gestured for her peer to present themselves.

"I am the dalatrass Naesaw of the Salarian Union" the salarian councilor said.

"And I am the councillor Sparatus of the Turian Hierarchy, I'd like to thank you on behalf of the Hierarchy for protecting one of our colonies" Sparatus said with genuine gratitude.

Hannah nodded "You are welcome, but truthfully we could not have just stood there and done nothing. I am the Captain Hannah Shepard of the System Alliance" she answered with a smile.

the ambassador Goyle chose this moment to speak up "And I am the Ambassador Anita Goyle. I suppose you have not rushed this first encounter for no reason, didn't you?" Anita said.

Tevos nodded "Yes indeed, your first contact with the galactic community happened in the most unexpected way, and the technology and abilities your peoples displayed are rather unique I have to say" she answered trying to not show her nervousness.

"Abilities? I suppose you speak of this" Anita thought about it for a few second and she understood they meant their magic and the magitechnology. She held her hand in the air and water gathered in the form of a small sphere "Our powers are the results of the exposition to the radiation that our crystal reactors produce" she explained before turning the sphere into steam and then teleported next to the Asari councilor and then back to where she was. this little display let the ambassadors and councilor speechless.

"So they are acquired in a way akin to biotics?...but are more diverse in their uses... fascinating..." the salarian councilor muttered as she thought and theorized on the inner working of these powers, and the possible implications and applications that made her head spin.

Anita rose an eyebrow "Biotics? I don't know what they are, and if they are comparable to Arcanes" she replied, she decided to not use the word "magic" and use a more fancy word to avoid gathering more incredulous stares from the council and ambassadors.

Tevos decided to explain this "The biotics are the result of exposure of to the radiations of element zero. They are the power to produce and control dark energy" she said.

the human ambassador refrained the urge to smile, the biotics were clearly not as multipurpose as magic is. This was a good thing since this would most likely give Humanity an edge in any conflicts that would happen with other species. After all there already seemed to be some hostile factions that the council had trouble with. From the information gathered during the one hour long trip to the Citadel she had learned about the Terminus Systems that were the side of this galaxy that was out of the Council's control. She was less than thrilled to know that half of this galaxy was in the hands of slavers,pirates,mercenary and only God knows what else. She knew that at one point the Alliance would have conflicts with them, it was impossible to avoid with this kind of savages.

The ambassador Goyle was brought back to reality by Councilor Sparatus "But the those powers are not the only concern we have, another concern is this portal technology of yours...the application of this technology if it happen to end up in the wrong hands could be disastrous so..."

Anita cut the councilor before he could continue "The portal technology has its limits, it can't reach farther than fifty light years and it takes twenty minutes to create a portal to go this far, and portals are one way trip and dissipate after five minutes. A portal that start to form is kind of hard to miss...as for the way one of our pilot redirected a mass accelerator shot, it is complex and only the best of our pilots can do it, the portal form faster only because they are close to each others" she explained.

Sparatus sighed in relief, that technology was not as dangerous as he thought at first. But in term of strategy this new technology would still something that could not be underestimated "I see thank you for enlightening me about this technology, I hope you don't think this is ingratitude but the Hierarchy's first concern is the security of the Council's space" he replied.

The human ambassador shook her head "You don't have to apologize, your concerns are justified since you are dealing with something new that could possibly dangerous. We first were very careful with this technology when we created it" she said.

then Tevos decided to ask the question she had on her mind "About this technology...we know that the basic knowledge that created your technology was learned from a race called...Fal'Cies. I just wondered why they haven't sent us an ambassador too since they are also a new species that the Citadel had not encountered before"

This was what Anita hoped they would not know about yet, the Fal'Cies were subject that she knew would be very, delicate to say the least. She knew they could possibly be a source of mistrust since they are, or at least seemed to be a very ancient kind of Artificial Intelligence. The Citadel conventions ,from what the ambassador gathered, fobbed the creation of AIs, Humanity was not making any kind of infraction since they did not make them nor did they researched anything close to AIs, and they weren't even part of the Citadel yet. But the fact they accepted the guidance of AIs might cause them a lot problems on the long term.

"The Fal'Cies are not separate from Humanity, their representative government is the System Alliance, which I am the ambassador of. So there was no need to send another representative" Anita answered staying calm and not letting anything show on her face. Which was not Hannah's case who seemed to be worried.

Tevos' eyes narrowed only slightly, she knew the human ambassador was hiding something, and it worried the captain at her side. Why would those Fal'Cies not show up? Where they in fact not a new species but enemies of the Citadel, who could they be? the Rachnnis? No very unlikely since they never had this kind of technology to start with. She had to find a way to get the truth out the ambassador, whatever she was hiding she had to know what it is.

The Asari councilor kept her calm too but Anita knew it was a facade "Okay then I guess we'll meet one of them at a later date. It is just that your kind seemed to trust their guidance to an impressive degree...Anyway I suppose you would like to make a tour of the Citadel and be given some time before we discuss the future relations of the System Alliance and the Citadel, wouldn't you?" she said with a smile that Anita mirrored but both knew those polite smiles were fake. Asaris and Humans were alike in more ways than one that much was certain _"And our alikeness might just be what will drive us apart"_ Anita thought.

After this meeting with the Council Hannah was dismissed by the Ambassador. Hannah looked at her magi-tool to see that she had a message from Chakwas with a map of the Citadel that told her to go to a restaurant of the Presidium. She tilted her head in confusion and went where the message told her too asking some help from Avina the Citadel's virtual intelligence.

When she arrived at the restaurant after having moved stealthily through the presidium to not be caught in a crowd of curious aliens. She saw Chackwas talking with an Asari and having Jane and Latis on sitting on either side of her eating their meal.

she approached Jane "Well well young lady, you were supposed to be grounded remember?" she said as her daughter smiled sheepishly gulping loudly.

"Sorry Hannah but when I decided to take Latis of the ship to find food for him the both of them made these cute little pouts...I just couldn't resist" the doctor admitted with a blush.

Hannah looked at Latis "Really? is that so kid? Well guess it can't be helped...you are getting away with it this time shrimp" she said teasing her daugther about her size like she did often making Jane grumble and Latis laugh, but the turian boy was silenced pretty quickly "You are in trouble too so don't laugh too much, you are guilty of having helped her" she said with a smirk.

The Asari chuckled "don't be to hard on them Captain Shepard, children are children after all. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Sha'ira, I saw your friend and decided to help her. And to be perfectly honest I did so out of curiosity...your kind has...a lot of potential from what I've heard from Dr Chackwas. And she made me especially curious about you...an L'Cie...something your people has not seen in centuries...peoples around you must admire you...may be to the point it cause you to be uncomfortable,right?" the Asari's voice was calm and soothing and carried a certain wisdom.

"Impressive! how did you guess all of that?" Hannah blurted.

Sha'ira chuckled "That is part of my job captain, I help peoples in many ways. Sometimes helping them to find what they need..." she said

Before Hannah answered she noticed from the corner of her eye that Latis had a sauce stain on his shirt and so did Jane "Becareful little ones, you are getting dirty" she said with a chuckle as she took out a tissue to wipe the stains making both kids uncomfortable.

Sha'ira smiled at the scene "But it seem you already have what you need...you just have to realize it make a choice" she said with a chuckle.

Hannah stared at her in confusion "What do you mean?" she asked.

Chackwas chuckled "It's obvious, she means that you should settle down somewhere and be the mother you want to be. I've known you for long enough to see you have always wanted to take a better care of Jane" she said.

The human captain was hesitant, yes, she had always wanted to settle down and have a happy life with her daughter. Maybe remarry too, though it would take sometimes. She had never fully accepted her husband's death, she had felt so helpless that day, so weak and powerless. And she had yet to fullfill her focus as an L'Cie, she had a lot to do for all of Humanity "I...I don't know...I mean...I'm not sure of what to do..." the redhead replied.

Sha'ira nodded understanding what she had so much trouble to explain "You have a lot of expectations resting on your shoulders. You are afraid to fail as an L'Cie, you have been chosen to seemingly guide your kind, and you are afraid of making a choice that might seem selfish to others...but from what your friend told me, the Fal'Cies only give you the initial impulse and everything else is up to you, isn't it?" she asked getting a nod from Hannah "Well that mean you are the only one to know whether you are wrong or right" she added with that same soothing soft smile of hers.

Hannah only could nod at the Asari's words, they were crystal clear to her. But the path to take wasn't was she really able to chose so easily, without consequences? as if to settle her doubt her brand shone brightly and seemingly disappeared leaving only a slightly paler patch of skin on which you could still somewhat guess the shape of the mark. Her focus was fulfilled it seemed "This seem so easy...how can this be?"

"You have made your choice, and it seem the Fal'Cie understand it, or at least that's what I understand from this event" Sha'ira told her with some hesitation.

Unseen by either of them two new brands had appeared at the same time. One on Jane's right shoulder that had the shape of a burning bird that spread its wings across the shoulder. And another one on Latis' left forearm in the shape of a serpent like creature curling around the arm. both brand shimmered in silence beneath their bearers clothes that concealed them for the moment, and both became invisible, not gone, still there, and always there, for if one story was about to enter its epilogue, it was only the prologue of a new one. Duties have been passed onto new chosen ones, for the stakes went far beyond the future of one single race.

 **End of the chapter 1**

* * *

 **Oracle:I hope you have liked it, as you might have noticed the inner working of the L'Cie brand are not the same as in FF XIII and there are other things which will be different. So I hope you'll review and tell me what you have liked and give suggestion if you have some. so see you next time ;)  
**


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